Martinsburg, WV: The myths and realities of living in the Eastern Panhandle’s fastest growing city!

welcome back to our Channel today we're diving into Martinsburg West Virginia is it the hidden G any think it is there's a lot of debate about martinburg given that it's known as one of the fastest growing cities in the state it's known as the gateway to the shanoa valley yet at the same time one news source described it as one of the worst cities to live in in America which sounds like some clickbait to me right a little bit that's quite a very reputation Martinsburg is a large city with several distinct Parts including rural areas suburbs and a bustling City Center complete with a historic Main Street if you're curious to learn more about Martinsburg and see if it's worth exploring for your next home sit tight we're going to break down some of the myths that are commonly associated with Martinsburg compare them to actual data and give you a sense of what life is really like in this growing city if after watching this video you're ready to go out and explore the area send us a message and we'd be happy to share our Martinsburg Visitor Guide with you let's start with the geography nestled in Berkeley County Martinsburg is broken in half by interstate 81 giving easy access to Maryland and Virginia as you'd expect much of the development and new construction is centered around the I 81 car Corridor you'll find plentiful shopping and dining options here from chains to the queen downtown we recently went to a bubble tea and poke Bowl restaurant in downtown that was pretty amazing so good Martinsburg is composed of four separate zip codes four different options for the kinds of neighborhoods you find you have the city center CER with more of an urban feel and moderately priced homes and to the West you'll find the more rural section with larger Lots then there are subdivisions and the remaining two zip codes if you love being near the water you're going to want to focus on the 2544 as you have river access on the top border of the city here most people think of Martinsburg as just the city in the center but there is a lot more to Martinsburg than just the downtown area speaking of downtown there's a lot of Buzz about a restoration project with some historic building that have sat vacant for too long the Perfection garment and the interwoven Mills factories the finished product is expected to add 5,000 ft of commercial space and over 380 market rate residential units that's an exciting future change for the city definitely now to tackle our first myth Martinsburg lacks diversity it's often said that Martinsburg lacks cultural diversity but let's set the record straight many refer to West Virginia statistics as a whole when looking at Martinsburg the state has above a 92% white population based on the 2020 census digging into just Martinsburg its majority white non-hispanic population is just over 73% and this is actually a lot closer to the national average than you might think nationally in the 2020 census the white non-hispanic population consisted of about 61% of the country's population the same census found the population of the city comprised of over 14% black or African-American non-hispanic about 5% multi-racial non-hispanic and over 2% white Hispanic and lastly nearly 2% % of Asian non-hispanic populations of course it's been a few years since these numbers were recorded and there may be people who have moved from the area since 2020 or didn't participate in the census now on to the next myth Healthcare is subpar many worry about Healthcare options when they're relocating especially when downsizing so we wanted to help you understand how Martinsburg compares to the West Virginia data you're likely to see when researching West Virginia is a large mountainous State and there are areas where Access to Health Care is a big concern however in Martins the Berkeley Medical Center is considered one of the top hospitals in the State ranking high for treatments in Strokes heart failure and COPD if you need more Specialized Care Baltimore Virginia and Washington DC's top hospitals are just a road trip away proximity to a hospital is very important to some so if you need a home search created with a certain distance to a nearby hospital we can help with that if you're concerned about job opportunities moving to Martinsburg we've got some good news while many sources warn of limited job opportunities overall in West Virginia Martinsburg is sitting pretty with an unemployment rate of 2.9% in 2023 compared to the national average of around 4% some larger employers have come to the area in the last decade including quad Macy's fulfillment center and a proctor and gain Factory while you might assume that a lot of workers are commuting for hours every day less than 9% of the population were classified as superc commuters which is those that drive more than 90 minutes a day in 2021 it was found that the average commute in the area was just 28 minutes oh that's not bad no we've been working with clients who are considering commuting on the mark train into DC in order to afford a larger home for extended family this sounds great in theory we wanted to shed some light on the logistics of a train commute from Martinsburg the mark train will take you all the way to Union Station in DC as of this filming date in December 2023 the trains leave at 5 525 and 6:25 a.m. and take over 2 hours to get to the end of the line in Union Station there are other stops along the way so take a look at the route to determine how long your ride would be definitely not advisable for someone who needs to be in the office 5 days a week yeah mean your choice but thankfully there are a number of job opportunities keeping people in or close to Martinsburg or if you're someone who doesn't mind a train ride this could work for a day or so a week I would think one big thing Martinsburg is known for is growth with those new employers that came in the last decade came new people yeah between 2010 and 2020 censuses the population increased almost 9% from about 17,000 to nearly 19,000 recall that there are a number of different neighborhoods in the area as well while the area is growing there is still rural areas and homes near the river where you can escape the hustle and bustle if you want to have a home in the 300,000 but close to a lot of amenities this might be a great place for you you truly get a lot more home for your dollar here but you're still not that far from Baltimore or DC with your dollar stretching further in Martinsburg long-term financial goals are more attainable lastly we wanted to say a word about some crucial factors for many in their home searches School options and crime data to generalize about these topics would be unfair especially given how large Martinsburg is and how many different distinct neighborhoods there are we love nothing more than to roll up our sleeves and help you find the best information out there so if you'd like recommended resources based on the specific area you're looking into reach out and we can help so Kristen what's our verdict on Martinsburg a growing labor force growing population lower commute times it's sounding pretty good to me especially those homes by the river that's where I'd be just need my canoe and my guitar if you've lived in Martinsburg or have visited the area and have anything to share that we haven't covered let us know in the comments yeah we love hearing from our listeners keep those West Virginia questions and comments coming see you next time

Channel: Kristin Crockett & Hannah Won

Views: 6,815

Keywords: martinsburg, berkeley county homes for sale, martinsburg wv homes for sale, moving to west virginia, martinsburg wv, martinsburg mall, homes for sale in west virginia, best places to live in west virginia 2022, martinsburg west virginia, moving to martinsburg wv, moving to west virginia vlog, things to know before moving to west virginia, why no one is moving to west virginia, best places to live in west virginia 2023

Id: W4GlKduju7s

Length: 6min 48sec (408 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 29 2023